Hook for curtains



April 8, 1952 H- SHERMAN HOOK FOR CURTAINS 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Oct.26, 1950 INVENTOR: HARRY SHERMAN,

ATTORNEY April 1952 H. SHERMAN 2,592,478

HOOK FOR CURTAINS Filed on. 26, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 FIGJO.

INVENTOR;

,4 HARmms ATTO Patented Apr. 8, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3Claims.

This invention'relates to hook-bearing appliances attachable todraperies, curtains, and the like, for supporting them from usual rods,especially traverse rods, and more particularly it relates to suchappliances whose hooks are adjustable or variable so as to control thelength and evenness of the drapery.

The usual manner of supporting draperies from rods is to insert aunitary looped book through the fabric and suspend it from the rod. Suchhooks must be carefully aligned or positioned in the drapery heading toproduce a straight and even hanging drapery and the adjustments requiredare extremely time-consuming. A poorly shaped drapery hem or asupporting rod that is not precisely mounted will cause a variation inthe edge of the drapery with respect to its mate.

It is therefore an object of thisinvention to provide an adjustablysupported drapery hook adapted to be quickly and easily varied not onlyto adjust the length of the drapery but to align it without measuring.It is a further object to provide a movably adjustable drapery hook andits support that does not require to be sewn into the fabric, but whichis easily removable from the drapery as a unit, if desired. A stillfurther object is to provide a drapery hook movably adjustable on itssupporting frame with the support adapted to hold the heading ofthedrapery firmly and upright. Another object of the invention is tomake such a hook movably adjustable on its support in distinction frombeing removable from its support and replaceable in a different oradjusted position.

These objects are attainable by providing a two-part appliance of whichone part is a base or frame that forms the hook-support and comprises asubstantially U-shaped drapery-contacting member made of wire shaped tohave two almost parallel legs joined at the top by an arch or bow thatis springy enough normally'to press the legs apart. These legs areprovided with position-determining stops. The second part is ahook-bearing loop-like member that embraces or bridges the legstransversely thereof and carries a rod-contacting hook. So the'U-shapedhooksup-port is threaded through the loop of the hookbearing member. Thespring bow is strong enough to press the legs apart while the distancethey can be pressed apart is limited by the width of the hook-bearingmember looped around or embracing those legs. When the'legs arecompressed or moved toward each othenthe hook-bearing looped member.can. be, moved readily along the legs, that is in a directionlongitudinal of the U-shaped hook-supporting member. But as soon as thelegs are allowed to return to their normal spring-pressed-apartposition, they render the hook-bearing looped member immovable due toengagement of that looped member with the position-determining stopsthat are on the outside contour of the legs.

Essentially then, if it is desired to adjust the hook-bearing loopedmember with respect to its position of the legs of the U-shapedhook-supporting member (that is also the drapery contacting member) theoperator needs only to compress the legs, slide the looped member to thedesired adjusted position on the legs, and release compression from thelegs, whereupon they spring back to hold the looped member in adjustedposition due to its engagement with the positiondetermining stops on thelegs that thus are engaged by the looped hook-bearing member. Thisadjustable moving of the hook-bearing member while yet in embracingposition on the hook-supporting member, can be accomplished irrespectiveof whether or not the appliance is attached to or apart from itsdrapery.

The best embodiment of this invention now known to me is shown anddescribed herein but it is to be understood that it is used solely in anillustrative sense and in nowise a limiting one, for obviously certainchanges and rearrangements can be made while still making use of theinvention whose limits are defined in the appended claims butequivalents of elements specified therein are to be included in definingthem.

Figure l 'is'a view of the back of the drapery heading showing theappliance partially slid into place.

FigureZ is a similar view showing the appliance hook completely inplace.

Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the movable portion of the appliance in afront view and a side view respectively.

Figure 5 is a top View of the movable hookbearing member of theappliance.

Figure 6 is a front view of the appliance showing it compressed togetherby the operators fingers in a manner preparatory to having the loopedmovable hook-bearing member slipped over it and in place.

Figure '7 is a side view of the appliance show ing the manner ofassembling it with the movable hook-bearing member being just slipped onto aportion of the drapery-contacting member.

Figure 8 is aside view of the appliance in position under the buckramheading H! of the drapery.

Figures 9 and 10 are a front and side view respectively of a variationof the appliance in which the drapery-contacting frame is secured to thedrapery by means of an upstanding projecting prong for insertiondirectly into the fabric.

In the drawings, there is shown the front portion of the drapery H andits uppermost foldedover section l2 stiffened with buckram l3 and withpleats M having stitched seams i5. The appliance to be secured inposition with respect to the fabric of the drapery comprises adraperycontacting frame or support indicated generally by F, and ahook-bearing looped member indicated generally by H. The frame orsupport F is generally U-shaped having legs is and I! joined to eachother by a spring bow or arch l8 and at least one of the legs isequipped with positiondetermining stops on that part of the leg that isfarthest from its mate. In the preferred form, these stops are providedby undulations or serrations and 2| respectively offered by makin thelegs serpentine in shape. The bow I8 is made so that it tends tonormally spring the legs apart. The hook-bearing member H is generallylooped in plan view sufiicient to fit around and embrace the legs l6 andI! when they are somewhat compressed toward each other, but of an extentthat the loop 23 forms a limit to the maximum distance the legs can bepressed apart by the spring bow l8. The hook-bearing member ispreferably made of a single piece of wire or other bendable materialcurved to form this looped portion 23; a rod-contacting hook or hookedportion 24; and downward shaft 25 terminating in an eye 26. In formingthis member, the wire is first made to form hook 24 and then bent toform arm 21. It is next bent at right angles into the horizontal loop 23which continues around until it goes back to arm 21 when it is againbent at right angles to pass downwardly to form terminal shaft 25. Thedownwardly extendin terminal shaft 25 depending from the loop 23 hasseveral possible functions, namely as a counterweight to the hook 24 toprevent the hook-bearing member H from tilting too much especially whenin engagement with drapery, and also as a convenient fingerpull when thehook-bearing member H is to be adjusted from one position to the otherwith respect to the legs 16 and IT.

The hook-supporting frame F has further details of construction in thatat the ends of the legs l6 and I1, they are each bent inwardly for ashort distance 2'! and 28 and then upwardly to form shafts 3B and 3|respectively with each terminating in a loop or eye 32 and 33respectively. These shafts slope toward each other so that their eyeportions 32 are pressed together by the force of the bow spring l8.These shafts are so formed because they are to grip between them aportion of the drapery for holding the frame F in place on the drapery.It is for this reason that this hook-supporting frame is also called thedraperycontacting member. The loops or eyes 32 and 33 are provided sothat when in drapery-contacting or gripping position, they will not tearor snag the fabric of the drapery.

To assemble the appliance, the draperycontacting hook-supporting frame Fhas its legs compressed as shown in Figure 6 so that its stopbearinglegs l B and H are forced close together. The hook-bearing movablemember H is threaded over loops or eyes 32 and 33, and then sliddownwardly along shafts and 3], as shown in Figure 7. It then is passedaround the inwardly bent portions, 28 and 29 and next upwardlyover the 4position-determining stops or serrations 20 and 2| on the legs 16 and I!respectively, whereupon the assembled appliance is ready for attachmentto the drapery.

This is accomplished by sliding the shafts 33 and 3| of the hook-supportF upwardly and straddlingly along the stitched seam 15 of the pleat [4.These shafts are slid into position as far as they will go until thebends 28 and 29 of the legs reach the edge of the folded-over section I2of the drapery. Here they are held in this position by the stitched seaml5 being gripped between the eyes 32 and 33 on the shafts 30 and 3|. Inthis way, the frame F is fixed to the drapery.

If, however, non-folded-over draperies are used, such as lineddraperies, instead of the shafts 30 and 3| for frictionally fasteningthe frame F to the drapery, the modification of Figures 9 and 10 isused, wherein a sharpened prong 34 extends from the bow I8 connectinglegs l6 and I1 so that the frame F can be secured in place by puncturingthe drapery fabric with that prong. In this form the shafts 30 and 3|are eliminated and eyes or loops 35 and 35 substituted for them. Alsothe U-shaped frame is turned end for end from the first form, as shownin these figures.

Then, after having secured the hook-supporting frame F indrapery-contacting position, the hook-bearing member H can be movablyadjusted to any desired position by compressing the legs together untilthe looped portion 23 of the hook-bearing member H is released from thestops or serrations 20 and 2| and can be slid upwardly or downwardlyalong the legs until the desired position is reached, whereupon thecompression of the legs stops, and the bow spring 18 presses the legsapart again so that the looped section 23 engages stops or serrationsand is thus locked in adjusted position.

It can be seen, therefore, that the appliance of this invention iseasily fixable to a drapery, and in that position its hook-bearingmember is easily movable into adjusted position to adjust the hangingdrapery with respect to the curtain rod from which it depends.

What I claim is:

1. An adjustable drapery hook appliance including a drapery contactinggenerally U-shaped frame having substantially parallel legs joined atone end by a bowed resilient portion acting to bias the legs laterallyoutwardly from each other, the legs being movable toward each other byinward pressure applied to the free ends thereof, each of the legshaving a series of stops at regular intervals along the same projectinglaterally outwardly therefrom, the stops of both legs extending in acommon plane with the legs, and the stops of one leg being disposedopposite the stops of the other leg, said U-shaped frame having meansextending laterally from its lower end and thence upwardlylongitudinally of the U-shaped frame at one side thereof in spacedrelation therewith to engage an upper portion of a drapery, and arod-attaching member including a transversely extending elongated loopmember slidably embracing the legs of the U-shaped frame, and arod-engaging hook member carried by said loop member having a shankportion integral with and extending longitudinally upwardly from oneside of said loop member centrally of the ends thereof parallel to andto one side of the plane of said legs, and a part extending laterallyand downwardly from the vupper. end of said shank portion, said hookmember being disposed at that side of the U-shaped frame opposite theside thereof at which said drapery engaging means is located, the endsof the loop member being of a size in cross section to seat betweenpairs of the laterally projecting stops of said legs inwardly of theouter ends of the stops, and the loop member being slidably adjustablealong th legs of the U-shaped frame when the legs are pressed inwardlytoward each other, said loop member being engaged between opposite pairsof the stops on the legs when the legs are relieved of inward pressureand spring apart, the stops providing for positively supporting the loopmember with the hook member carried thereby in different positions ofadjustment along the legs of the U-shaped frame against movement ineither direction longitudinally of the U- shaped frame.

2. An adjustable drapery hook appliance according to claim 1 and whereinthe rod-attaching member has a shaft extending longitudinally downwardlyfrom one side of the loop member below and in longitudinal alignmentwith the shank portion of the hook member and to one Side of the s ofthe U-shaped frame and constituting a finger grip in adjusting the rodattaching member along the legs of the U-shaped frame.

3. An adjustable drapery hook appliance according to claim 1 and whereinthe means on the u-shaped frame to engage an upper portion of a draperyconsists of an arm integral with and extending upwardly longitudinallyfrom the lower end of each of the legs of the U-shaped frame andterminating at its upper end in a fabric gripping eye, said armsconverging upwardly with the fabric gripping eyes of the arms pressedtogether in fabric gripping position.

HARRY SHERMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 249,415 Stanton Nov. 8, 1881444,603 Tirrill Jan. 13, 1891 694,739 Goldman Mar. 4, 1902 2,457,736Schmidt Dec. 28, 1948

